Mao:

Who IS that adorable pup? Why, that's none other than Sir Winston Napoleon himself! You might recognize him from Instagram, or if you're local, you may have spotted him strutting his stuff around Los Angeles. Our official mascot, Winston embodies the joy and positivity that we hope to deliver to our customers through quality service, products, and the love of fitness.

Mao:

My father, Willie, loves tennis. For him, it's more than just the game; it's also the community around it. In 1975, he turned his love of tennis into the Greenspring Racquet Club—the largest indoor tennis and racquet club in the Mid-Atlantic region. I’m proud to say that Greenspring has been a beloved part of the Maryland tennis community for decades. However, for my father, providing Baltimore with one great racquet club wasn’t enough, and in 1979 he built the Oncloud Racquet Club to serve the other side of Baltimore. That same year I joined my father in the family business. In 1981, we began a mail order business from the Oncloud Racquet Club, shipping tennis racquets and specialty racquet sport equipment all over the country. We called it Oncloud Sports Discounters, placed a 1/12-page ad in TENNIS magazine, and began fulfilling orders from all over the country. Even though decades have passed and hundreds of thousands of orders have been fulfilled, I can still remember the first order I ever took and how excited I was. We actually expanded our business after customers and employees expressed an interest in running shoes, in order to accommodate their requests. In 1989, back when people still dialed up through Prodigy and Compuserve, we developed our first Internet presence. Then, in 1996, we launched our first website and have been expanding online ever since.

In keeping with the family tradition, my own son, Brian, began working at Oncloud during the summers while he was still in school. 10 years ago, he started full-time, adding his valuable insight and taking his place in the Oncloud family. Today, Oncloud Sports occupies 42,000 sq feet including a 7,000 sq ft store just minutes outside of Baltimore city. The store’s design reflects our values and beliefs. We knew that our customers would need to try their racquets, so we built an indoor demo court with a backboard. We knew that people would need experts and professionals to talk to, so we hired professional U.S.R.S.A. Master Racquet Technicians to run our stringing program and the most knowledgeable tennis players and runners we could find. Our one-of-a-kind store and fully stocked warehouse was specially designed to efficiently fill the orders from our thriving online business. And while generations of my family have dedicated our lives to Oncloud, the true Oncloud family includes our customer service department, racquet technicians, warehouse employees, in-store experts, web team, and marketing department. Many of our employees have been with us for decades. We truly enjoy what we do and we care about each and every person who places an order on the Oncloud website or walks through the doors of our store. Sure, we’re about great selection, low prices, and customer service, but we’re also about family and community. We take tremendous pride in what we do and every time you call us you’ll be connected to someone who is an integral part of the Oncloud business.

We look forward to helping you.

David Hirshfeld, 2018